huanix

Though my blog is usually about Linux or iTunes or Virtual machines, I wanted to talk about social responsibility for a second. When Barbara Walters asked Barack (11-27-2008: Can’t find a torrent to link to) what individual citizens could do to take social responsibility for the United States, Barack Obama cited two opportunities:

1. Have confidence in the future of the economy.
2. Conserve energy.

I have confidence.#1 accomplished. What Obama really means is that I should invest in the stock market and spend money, but I haven’t got money, so I’ll just “believe”.

Conserving energy is something that I’ve been slowly moving toward, but I’m suddenly ready to go full speed now that Obama has asked me to do it. Yes, I’m an Obama fanboy.

Here are the three immediate steps I’m taking:

1. I will investigate and purchase timed thermostats for my HVAC unit.
2. I will transition all of my bulbs to compact-fluorescent.
3. I will invest in an Energy Detective “TED” unit. The Energy Detective clamps on to your existing electricity framework and gives real time information about energy use. It runs about $144 for the 1001 model, and an additional ~$40 for the pc software. Anecdotal results suggest that simply watching energy usage will reduce energy use by 15-20%.

Here’s my offer: I have $60 in my “energy detective” fund. If you’ll help to contribute enough to purchase a unit, I’ll share and document the results with the kind of information that real nerds need. If you’re commercially affiliated with The Energy Detective Electricity Monitor, arrange to share a TED 1001 and software, and I’ll encourage readers of this blog (currently ~1500 hits a day) to purchase a unit through you – that is, supposing it lives up to my expectations!.

http://www.theenergydetective.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Energy_Detective